Mobile Rich Internet Applications

We are all comfortable with the RIA (Rich Internet
Application) concept in the desktop web and Web 2.0, but we can also
create mobile RIAs. Some of the techniques used are the same, and others
are not: while all the Ajax pieces (strictly about network requests) are
the same, some UI and richness controls need to be redesigned for the
mobile world.

Note

A mobile RIA is also called webapp, a term
often used to define iPhone web applications that emulate the native UI
behavior and can include offline work and home screen icon
support.

Problems with the devices, including lack of a big screen and lack
of mouse support (and the various kinds of mouse events), have made mobile
RIA development more tricky than we might have hoped. However, the
richness in services (e.g., autosave mechanisms for large text inputs) can
be developed in the same way regardless of whether the application is
targeting desktop or mobile users.

Some UI design pattern concepts that work great in mobile RIAs
include:

Accordion

Tab navigation

Menu bars

In-place editors

For other concepts we need to think twice and ponder alternative
solutions. Implementing the following can be more complex:

Drop-down calendars for non-touch devices

CSS modal pop-ups

Flash-based interactions and menus

WYSIWYG editors

Rich datagrids

JavaScript UI Libraries

There are dozens of JavaScript UI libraries for
implementing rich controls. The great question is: do they work on
mobile browsers? Table 9-10 show the results ...

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